Evacuations Force Cancellation Of First Week Of Seeley Swan High School

Due to the evacuations announced on Monday afternoon in Seeley Lake due to the change in direction of the Rice Ridge Fire, Seeley Swan High School is cancelling the first week of classes at least until Tuesday, September 5.

MCPS Communications Director Hatton Littman said the order went out on Tuesday morning to cancel classes.

"Keep in mind that the sheriff's evacuation order did include the address of the Seeley Swan High School, so we had no choice but to cancel school," Littman said. "We released an additional statement today that school will be cancelled Wednesday and Thursday of this week. The school had already planned to be closed on Friday and, of course, Monday is the Labor Day holiday. We're trying to have students plan to return on Tuesday,, but we'll have to update families with information pending any new evacuation orders."

Littman said the school had just begun its first week when the evacuation order was imposed.

"School on Monday was just for freshmen, and we had that day as planned," she said. "They were expecting to have sophomores through seniors attend today, and certainly they'll have to do some contingency planning for their lessons for next week," she said. "We do know that in addition to student families being evacuated, staff members were also under evacuation orders."

Littman said the school has about 10 teachers and support personnel and around 100 students. The administration plans to keep students and staff updated about whether school will resume next Tuesday, or if an alternate location will have to be found.